


Whitmore Bay

by gildedfrost



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Aging, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25674946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gildedfrost/pseuds/gildedfrost
Summary: Nile looks out over the bay at night, waiting for Andy to meet her.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Nile Freeman
Comments: 13
Kudos: 74





	Whitmore Bay

Nile stares out across the calm waters of the ocean. The moonlight glints off of the waves, half-obscured by cloud cover, and the evening chill seeps through her jacket. She sits at the edge of a cliff, feet dangling over the precipice, and runs her hand idly across the damp, stunted grass and weeds. The bay is empty but for a few birds and the island is quiet, its ferris wheel frozen in place and attractions devoid of commotion. The smell of petrichor surrounds her, putting her at ease.

It is calm, grey, and peaceful.

Footsteps crunch on the path behind her. “Not as nice as Greece, is it?”

“Not as busy as Greece.” Nile leans back onto her hands and looks over her shoulder. “But we’re not here for vacation.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the sights. Lives like ours, we’ve gotta take all the good we can get.” Andy grins and crouches down, sitting on a stone a few feet away, raincoat crinkling quietly.

Streaks of grey thread through Andy’s hair and wrinkles are starting to show on her face. There are scars visible now that weren’t there when the two met, and Nile knows some of her teeth have been replaced, even if that’s not visible. She wears glasses with thick frames and transition lenses, and is seemingly unbothered by the drop of water on one of the lenses. 

“How was Aberystwyth?” Andy asks.

Nile grimaces. “So, good news is, I found the information we wanted in the library.”

“And the bad news?”

“I only know ten words in Welsh and I learned them all from road signs.”

Andy laughs, a bright, brief sound that wards off the chill. “You photocopied them all, right?” “Got them right here.” Nile pats her jacket, inside which she carries the folder. She’s endlessly curious about the contents, but she knows it has to be Andy’s decision whether or not she shares that information.

The results from Copley’s years of research inspired a new drive in Andy. She pushes forward as she always has, using her skills and experience to help others on the dangerous jobs that get sent their way, but she’s had time to think about what she wants from the rest of her now-mortal life. Looking back on her past was always a source of pain, or bittersweet memories at best. 

Now she has the chance to learn more about the good she’s done and the lives of people she knew briefly. Despite her attempts to distance herself from others, she made a number of friends as she drifted across the world, and learning about their lives centuries later brings her closure and reawakens buried memories. Nile can see the hurt in her eyes, but so too can she see the smiles and the acceptance that Andy carries with her.

Andy’s gone a long time forgetting what it’s like to be mortal. It’s clear that revisiting the mortals she once knew is helping her come to terms with it. The forays into historical records happen in their free time, stopping into libraries or archives when they’re around for another job, and Nile is glad that Andy has a somewhat healthy balance of ambition and time to ruminate.

“It’s too late in the year to see any bioluminescent plankton, you know,” Andy says. “This far north.”

“They couldn’t outshine the view I’ve got now.”

Andy spreads out her hands, raincoat hanging from her frame. “Please. I look like a hacky sack in this coat.”

“Then that makes you the best damn hacky sack I’ve ever seen. Come on.” Nile pats the ground beside her and brushes away a few stray pebbles. 

Andy sits beside her, legs touching. She’s like an anchor that Nile didn’t know she was missing. “It’s kind of funny,” she says quietly. “All these places you’re visiting for the first time, and it’s going to be my last time for most of them. I always figured I would just die when my time came, if it ever came at all, and I wouldn’t see it coming.”

“Is knowing worse?”

Andy reaches for Nile’s hand and laces their fingers together. “It is what it is. I can’t change that. All I can do is what I’ve ever done: Make the world a better place and hold onto the good that I’ve got.”

Nile squeezes her hand. “Never going to let go?”

“Never gonna give you up,” Andy promises, “or let you down.”

Nile smacks her shoulder and both of them laugh, their voices carrying across the bay before they’re swallowed up with a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Old Guard fic, and it's mostly an exercise in how to write the characters. Thank you for reading!


End file.
